Could Apple be using sapphire glass for a solar-charging iPhone 6 screen?

There’s been a lot of talk about sapphire glass since Apple(s aapl) CEO Tim Cook sat down for an interview with ABC News last week. But aside from confirming that a new manufacturing plant the company purchased in Mesa, Arizona last year will be used to produce sapphire glass, no other details were revealed. Seeking Alpha analyst Matt Margolis has a pretty interesting idea, though: He thinks Apple might be inscribing solar panels within sapphire glass screens for the next iPhone.

When you look at a lot of recent news about the company, this idea actually makes a good deal of sense. For starters, Apple has filed solar patents that will allow the company to power devices through solar cells. The company also hired a thin films engineer to “assist in the development and refinement of thin films technologies applicable to electronic systems.”

In addition to all of this, Margolis notes that sapphire manufacturer GT has been able to significantly reduce the cost of sapphire glass, from $13-18 to just $3-5 per screen. That makes it a financially viable alternative to Corning’s(s glw) Gorilla Glass, which costs $3 per screen.

Of course, none of this is a sure bet that Apple is actually planning to make a move towards sapphire screens or solar charging, but the pieces of the puzzle do fit together pretty well. The company is no stranger to the benefits of solar energy, with two solar farms and one fuel cell farm near its data center in North Carolina. And solar charging would be a huge step forward for mobile devices, which only consume more and more battery life as they become larger and more powerful. Then again, a solar panel the size of a phone screen wouldn’t generate all that much energy, and I’m not sure Apple would go down this route unless it provided a measurable benefit.

It makes more sense on a watch than an iPhone but we’re talking about Apple, they’ll find a cool, marketable way of doing it they could profit from all the hype. Sapphire absorbs 23.33 % more radiation than normal glass but weighs and resists 1% less. done sold.

My awesome Citizen “Tough Watch” watch, which I’ve had for several years now has a body of hardened titanium and a ‘face’ which is entirely a solar panel, it keeps the internal battery charged so replacement is something only required every 10 years or more…
The external glass however is thick curved sapphire crystal which is highly scratch resistant.
It makes little sense to employ a solar panel on a device which is essentially best kept out of the sun !
Inductive ‘wireless’ charging is something far more of interest to all concerned, anything which removes the need for cables makes for greater convenience…

The downside of solar is that it’d encourage iPhone owners to place their gadgets in the sun and that might lead to overheating followed by hardware problems. A dark iPhone placed in the sun could get as hot as black car.

This actually would make a lot of sense for an iWatch. Without having to charge it conventionally like every other annoying smartwatch on the market right now, it would make the watch a lot easier to use, which would give consumers one more reason to buy one.